


Welcome to Level Seven

by literarybarbie



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, light and dark, wsshipweek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-20
Updated: 2014-02-20
Packaged: 2018-01-13 04:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1213417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literarybarbie/pseuds/literarybarbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shorter works in the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to Level Seven

Ward let go of the berserker staff but it didn’t let go of him. For the first few weeks after he held it his dreams showed that horrible day at the well over and over. He screams at his younger self, begging him to just throw down the rope, to stop hesitating. He can’t change his memory though, can’t change that moment of weakness. 

He doesn’t remember the exact day the dream shifts but one moment he’s looking down the well and the next he’s looking up from it. Agent Ward is looking up at his younger self who still won’t throw the damn rope. 

Ward tries climbing out of the well but all his years of training haven’t given him the ability to scale the smooth wet stones. Each time his fingers slip he’s pulled down deeper into the black liquid of the well. It should be water but it feels more like slick oil that’s staining his skin dark and making it impossible to escape. He’s drowning and that’s when he finally wakes up, gasping and choking. 

This continues for days. Ward’s locked himself away from the team, afraid of lashing out at them. He knows it’s not real but he’s convinced that the oil could spread to them- drag them down in the well with him.

“You can’t keep refusing missions,” May confronts Coulson after the third day of Ward’s self-imposed lockdown. 

“Ward’s recovering,” Coulson replies evenly. It’s another indication of how much Coulson has changed after the Battle of Manhattan. The old Coulson would have reported that Agent Ward was compromised and replaced him until he was mission ready. May takes note of this but doesn’t mention protocol. Coulson may say he trusts the S.H.I.E.L.D. system but his actions prove otherwise. So May just gives him a pointed look and leaves. 

Simmons is surprised when Agent May tells her that Coulson needs her in his office. Usually Coulson comes to the lab anytime he needs her help, she can’t exactly do her best work in his office. It makes sense though, when he confides the details of Ward’s deteriorating mental status. 

“I believe Agent Ward would prefer that fewer team members know about the lingering effects of the staff. However; it is clear that time isn’t the best medicine in this case,” Coulson says to her and he hands her a badge that will allow access to Ward’s bunk. 

Ward’s sleeping when Simmons enters his bunk. Thanks to his training he doesn’t thrash about and his only indications of a nightmare are a few twitches and a creased forehead. Simmons wants to wake him desperately, but she knows it’s best to let him wake up on his own. When he finally does wake it’s with a strangled gasp that makes her stomach twist. 

At first Ward is furious that she’s there but the worry in Simmons eyes calm him. He doesn’t want her to worry about him. She grabs his hand and for a second he panics, watching for her pale skin to get covered in the dark ooze from his dream. Her hand stays clean and his shoulders slightly loosen, relaxing when he sees that he hasn’t dimmed her light. 

Simmons starts talking but he can barely hear her over his relief. She’s babbling about the berserker staff affecting his neurotransmitters and that monitoring his serotonin and beta endorphin levels should make him right as rain. She’s still holding his hand when she leads him to the lab.   
That night he’s in the well in his dreams but when he looks up it’s not his younger self looking down on him. Jemma Simmons is above him; her pale skin looks radiant above the dark walls of the well. She smiles at him and tosses down the rope.


End file.
